When India turned to face them, Skyler’s worries about the future faded.
“You’ve got to be the most beautiful bride ever.” Skyler thought that the radiant smile on India’s face was the most important piece of the ensemble.
“That Liam is a lucky guy,” Elissa added, then kissed India on the cheek.
India took Elissa’s hand in one of hers and motioned for Skyler to come forward so she could capture hers, too. When she held both of their hands, she squeezed them. “This wouldn’t have happened without the two of you. I know I didn’t make it easy, but I’m glad you didn’t give up on me. You’re the best friends a girl could ever have.”
Skyler bit her lip and lifted her free hand to wipe away a tear.
“Oh, look, you made ol’ Hormoney cry.”
Skyler stuck out her tongue at Elissa. “Just you wait. If this kid gets colic, I’m dropping it off at Auntie Elissa’s for an extended visit.”
“That’s okay. It’s all part of my plan to secure favorite-aunt status.”
“Good luck with that,” India said. “Aunt India is going to have horses and a shopful of pretty clothes if it’s a girl.”
Elissa made a face that said she knew a plant nursery couldn’t compete with that, making India and Skyler laugh.
It felt good to laugh, and Skyler made a promise to herself that for today she was going to have a good time. She owed it to India, who had waited a lifetime to be this happy and deserved to have her big day be fairy-tale perfect. Even the weather was cooperating. Overnight showers had brought cooler weather. Well, cool for Texas in early August, anyway.
“You girls sound like you’re having way too much fun in here.”
The three of them looked toward the door as Verona came into Skyler’s apartment. She was dressed in a shimmery dark blue suit that complemented the pale blue dresses that Elissa and Skyler wore.
“How many times do I have to tell you there’s no such thing as too much fun?” Elissa said.
Skyler’s mind went straight to that night at the Country Vista Inn. Yes, there was such a thing as too much fun.
“You ready?” Verona asked, drawing Skyler back to the present.
India nodded. “Thank you for doing this.”
“Sweetie, you’ve already thanked me half a dozen times.”
“I know, but it means a lot to me.”
Verona had agreed to walk India down the aisle since India didn’t have any family. And Elissa and Skyler had made sure that India’s side of the outdoor wedding space was filled with friends. Today of all days, India didn’t need to think about her utter lack of family. Before the sun went down, she would have a new family—a husband, a stepdaughter and Liam’s parents, who had treated India like a daughter from the moment they realized how much she meant to their son. There might not be carriages with white horses, glass slippers or a prince, but this was no less a fairy tale. Skyler’s heart swelled as she watched India take Verona’s arm.
“Well, girls, I think it’s time to get this show on the road,” Verona said.
Skyler fought tears during their walk from her apartment to the flower-filled courtyard, as India and Liam said their vows, as Ginny looked up at her dad with a smile as wide as Texas. This was right, the way things should be. When the minister finally pronounced them husband and wife and Liam planted a big cheer-inducing kiss on India, Skyler finally lost the battle and had to wipe away a tear.
“Are you okay?” Elissa whispered next to her.
“Yeah, just happy.”
Her happiness for her friend didn’t wane as everyone shifted into party mode. But as the sun slipped below the horizon and couples paired up for dancing, Skyler had to fight the urge to slip away. As she watched Liam and India move around the dance floor in each other’s arms, she remembered watching them dance by that night at the music hall. Remembered how good it had felt to be held in Logan’s arms.
“May I have this dance?”
Pete Kayne, one of Sheriff Simon Teague’s deputies and all-around good guy, offered his arm.
She started to decline but then worried that people would wonder why she wasn’t dancing at her best friend’s wedding. “Don’t mind if I do.”
But as Pete guided her through the song, Skyler couldn’t stop thinking about Logan, wondering where he was. She thought about the life growing inside of her and hoped it was a girl, because she didn’t know if she could handle looking into the eyes of a miniature Logan.
“You okay, Skyler?”
She jerked her attention back to Pete. “Yeah, fine.”
If by fine she meant facing a pregnancy and motherhood by herself, but now wasn’t the time or place to make that announcement.
Tonight was about the beginning of happily-ever-after.
* * *
LOGAN FLIPPED DOWN his truck’s visor to shield his eyes from the intense glare of the setting sun. He shifted in his seat, trying to get the kinks out of his back. He’d tweaked it in last night’s ride in Houston, enough that he’d pulled out of the rodeo in Albuquerque next weekend. The only bright spot was he was in Texas. Might as well visit Jesse. And if he happened to cross paths with Skyler and she’d missed him so much that she jumped his bones? Well, that would be okay, too.
He’d thought about her more than once over the past month, and at the oddest times. Most frequently it was when he was about to fall asleep, but she’d been known to enter his head as he was driving down the road or when he was in a bar and a song reminded him of her. On a couple of occasions, he’d even turned down female advances, but he’d explained that away by telling himself he was just tired. He certainly couldn’t be hung up on a woman he’d known only a handful of days.
As he got close to Blue Falls, he pulled out his phone and called Jesse. He let it ring until the voice mail came on, then left Jesse a message that he was in town and would greatly appreciate a couch to crash on.
What he’d really like was one of those soft beds at the Wildflower Inn, but he thought Skyler might look at him more favorably if he didn’t take up temporary residence again. Still, that didn’t mean he couldn’t stop by and use that free-dinner coupon that had been riding around in his wallet for a month. And if he happened to bump into Skyler, he wasn’t going to complain.
Business must have been good, because the inn’s parking lot was full. It sounded as if a party was going on when he got out of his truck and approached the front door. When he stepped inside, the gal at the front desk, the same one who’d checked him in before, looked up from her computer screen.
“Hello. Are you staying with us again?”
“No, just came by to have dinner.”
“They’ve got a really good salmon special tonight.”
He was more of a red-meat kind of guy, but he nodded his thanks for her suggestion, anyway. As he turned to head for the dining room, he spotted a guy in a tux coming out of the bathroom. It took him a moment to realize it was Liam.
“Nice monkey suit, man,” Logan said. “What’s the occasion?”
Liam tugged at his tie, finally giving in and ripping it off and stuffing it in his pocket. “It’s my wedding day. Couldn’t get away with jeans and boots.”
“Another one ties the knot.” Logan shook Liam’s hand. “More ladies for me.”
Liam laughed and clapped him on the shoulder, causing Logan to wince. “You injured?”
“It’s nothing. Just a tweak. A bull in Houston didn’t want to be friends.”
“Sounds like you need a drink. Come on out to the party.”
“I’m not exactly in my best duds.”
“You’re not the one getting married.”
“Thank God for that.” For some reason Skyler’s image popped into his mind. He rubbed his hand over his face as he followed Liam outside and around the far c
orner of the building. Maybe that dang bull had shaken his brain loose just to add insult to back injury.
When he came within sight of the crowd and saw Skyler, however, he thought he might owe that wretched bull a kiss.
The woman would look good wearing a plastic garbage bag, but the blue dress that left one shoulder bare nearly had him panting. If there was a more stunning woman in the world, he’d never seen her. And if tonight went really, really well, he planned to kiss that bare shoulder and maybe a lot more.
Chapter Nine
Skyler laughed right along with everyone else when Simon Teague finished telling the story about rolling up to Frank Pepperdine’s junkyard to find Pete standing on top of his patrol car trying to get Frank’s Rottweiler to stop growling at him.
“If I hadn’t yelled at Frank that I was going to lock him up for a month for assaulting an officer, Pete would still be standing up there.”
“I would have liked to see you do any different if you’d seen that dog chasing after you like you were lunch. That thing’s big as a Clydesdale.”
Elissa clasped her hands to her heart and batted her eyes. “My hero.”
That made everyone laugh again, everyone but Pete, anyway. When Ryan Teague walked up and caught the guys’ attention, Elissa shook her head and looked back toward Skyler. She’d opened her mouth to speak when something behind Skyler caught her attention and caused her to stop.
“What?”
Skyler turned just as Elissa said, “Don’t.”
Too late. The sight of Logan Bradshaw leaning against the exterior wall of the inn stole her breath. He made it worse by smiling. Trying to act nonchalant, she slowly broke eye contact and turned back toward Elissa. “What is he doing here?”
“I don’t know. You want me to get rid of him?”
“No, it’s fine. I don’t want to do anything to mess up India’s day.”
“Pretty sure he’s party crashing.”
India made her way past a throng of well-wishers to get to Skyler and Elissa. “He didn’t,” she said. “Liam saw him in the lobby and told him to come out and have a drink.”
“But what was he doing in the lobby?” Skyler asked where no one else could hear her. “I was never supposed to see him again.”
Elissa squeezed Skyler’s hand. “Is that what you really want?”
“I’m finally getting used to the idea of, you know, doing this alone. Finally believing I can do this. I don’t need some drifter mucking that up.”
India leaned close. “He is the father, hon. Don’t you think he deserves to know?”
“Why, because I spent one night with him? I doubt the guy even has a permanent address. A child needs stability, not a dad who floats in and out of his life every time the wind blows.”
“You don’t know that he’d be like that,” India said. “Not until you give him a chance.”
Skyler shook her head. “I can’t do that. I’m not the first woman he’s bedded after a rodeo, and I’d lay my life savings on the fact that I won’t be the last.”
“But—”
“Oh, crap,” Elissa said. “He’s heading this way.”
Skyler panicked. Why hadn’t she made a run for it the moment she saw him? Because that wouldn’t have been obvious at all. She’d swear she could feel his heat as he got closer.
“You can do this,” Elissa said under her breath.
“I hear congratulations are in order,” Logan said as he stopped so close to Skyler she could reach out and touch him. “You do make a beautiful bride.”
India smiled. “Thank you. I think the guys were headed for another drink, if you’d like to join them.”
“I’d actually like to ask Skyler to dance. Seems I remember we were pretty good at it last time we twirled around a dance floor.”
She glanced at him for a fraction of a second. “Sorry, I’m all out of dance moves for the night.”
“Mighty early to be packing it in,” he said.
“I’ve had a long day.”
Before she realized what he was doing, he wrapped his hand around hers. “Just one dance.”
She glanced at her friends. The look on India’s face, that she was on the verge of coming to Skyler’s rescue on a day when she should be focusing on nothing other than her new husband, made Skyler’s decision for her. “One dance.”
Her nerves stretched so thin she feared they’d start popping from the strain, Skyler allowed Logan to guide her into the midst of couples dancing. Keri Teague even gave her a thumbs-up from where she stood next to her sister-in-law Grace.
“You don’t seem very happy to see me,” Logan said.
“Just surprised. What are you doing here? The next rodeo isn’t for another month.”
“I do have a cousin here, remember? Plus, I felt the need for a vacation.”
She laughed a little at that. “Isn’t your entire life a vacation?”
“Whoa, harsh.”
“Sorry.” She guessed pregnancy came with a side of extra bitchy. “It really has been a long day.” And the feel of his big hand pressed to the small of her back wasn’t helping. When he tried to tug her closer, she resisted. The irrational fear swelled up in her that if he made contact with her stomach, he’d be able to tell his child was growing inside her.
A small part of her wanted to tell him, to not have to go through this alone, to give him a chance to prove her fears wrong. But she’d had enough upheaval. She needed to do this her way, without someone else, someone who wasn’t going to be there all the time, having a say in how she raised her child. She was the responsible one. He was married to the road and adrenaline. She wouldn’t have her child constantly looking out the window wondering when Daddy was going to come home.
“Maybe you should turn in early.”
She made the mistake of looking up at him in time to see the mischievous look in his eyes. He wasn’t suggesting she go to bed alone. She hated how much she had to fight the desire to take him up on his offer, to lift onto the tips of her toes and capture his mouth with hers. Whatever else she might say about him, he drew her physically with a frightening intensity. She had to make everything crystal clear to him once and for all.
“Listen, Logan, you’re a nice guy. And we had fun that night. But that’s all it was, one night. Our lives are too different. We’re nothing alike. So I think the flirting and the innuendo needs to stop because it’s not going anywhere.” She meant everything she said, and yet every word felt like a bitter lie.
“You trying to convince me or yourself?”
“What?”
“That little speech sounded rehearsed, almost like you’ve been practicing it since that night I kissed you outside your apartment.”
“Why would I do that?”
“I don’t know, Miss Harrington.” He leaned closer, and before she could pull away, he captured her lips.
She wanted to resist. At least that’s what the sane part of her mind was yelling at her. But he tasted so good, and it felt so incredible to be held in his arms again. So she kissed him back, telling herself that this would be the last time. That in a moment she’d be strong again and pull away.
Logan was the one who broke the kiss. It wasn’t until the fog in her head cleared and she saw the satisfied smile on his face that common sense overrode pure desire and gave her the strength to extricate herself from him. She searched for words but came up empty. In the end, she simply walked away from him.
She needed to get far from all these people, to have a few minutes to collect her thoughts, to calm down. Hopefully Logan would take the hint and leave. She hurried along the walkway at the front of the inn, increasing her pace as she moved beyond the edge of the crowd. Why had she let herself get wrapped up in that crazy physical attraction again? Logan Bradshaw was dangerous for h
er peace of mind, for her ability to think with anything resembling even half of her brain.
Skyler scooted to the edge of the walkway to avoid the sprinklers that were trying to keep the landscaping from burning to an absolute crisp.
“Skyler, wait.”
She looked over her shoulder at the sound of Logan’s voice. Why couldn’t he leave her alone? Why did a treasonous part of her not want him to?
She was about to tell him to go back to the party when her foot slipped off the edge of the walkway. Instinctively, she covered her stomach with one hand and reached out to try to break her fall with the other. But the angle was off, and her elbow buckled as soon as her hand hit the ground. She hit hard, knocking the wind out of her.
“Skyler!” Logan ran toward her, reaching her side before she was able to draw a breath. “Are you okay?”
Fear shot through her. “Go get Elissa. Tell her to bring Chloe.”
“I can help you.”
“Just do it!” She blinked back tears and told herself it wasn’t that bad, just a little spill. The baby was fine. Still, she was afraid to move, scared that if she did, it would be a dreadful mistake.
It seemed to take forever for Chloe and Elissa to come around the corner, Logan right next to them. Skyler motioned him away. “Go on back to the party.”
“Like hell. I want to make sure you’re okay.”
“I’m fine.”
The way he stared at her, he knew she was lying or at the very least not telling him everything. Why was this happening? She didn’t want him to know. Or did she?
“We can help her inside,” Elissa said.
Logan still didn’t budge, and the tiniest sliver of hope lit inside Skyler, barely discernible amid all the panic but there nonetheless.
“Do you feel like you broke anything?” Chloe said as she kneeled beside Skyler. She gave Skyler a meaningful look.
“I don’t know. I hit my arm as I fell.”
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